1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to train control and, more particularly, to determining the number of cars of a train consist.
2. Description of the Related Art
In present communication based train control systems, the train (e.g., a commuter train) determines its location and transmits it to the wayside for the wayside and other trains to work with. It is up to the train to take information about its surroundings and determine how to move safely, and correctly line up at platforms to exchange passengers. To do these vital functions, the train has to be able to vitally know its location and the area it takes up both static and dynamically.
During initialization of a communication based train control (CBTC) system, the train determines its location and the characteristics of the train consist. For a train that is capable of having variable train lengths, it is necessary that it determine its train length vitally. It is also necessary for each car in the train, that is capable of controlling the train, to vitally know where in the train consist it is located. This can be accomplished with different methods. Heretofore, these methods incorporated an independent train-borne means for determining train length, the characteristics of the consist as checked against an independent wayside based method to achieve vitality.
It would be desirable to provide multiple train-borne means and/or methods for determining train length and other characteristics of the trainconsist that avoid the need to use a wayside based method while maintaining vitality of such a system.